


Behind These Walls I Call Home

by Somewhat_Ficz



Series: Oneshots & Short Fics [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hyrule (Linked Universe)-centric, I love my boy Hyrule but angst, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), One Shot, because this is about hyrule, the rest of the boys are just mentioned or extras
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somewhat_Ficz/pseuds/Somewhat_Ficz
Summary: For all his life, all he's known was to stay on the safe side of the wall, protected by dozens of soldiers and civilians. To never even think of leaving and going out to the rest of the world, to just stay and let others die in exchange for his protection, that his life was way more important than those of many civilians, to have to hide from all potential threats yet still have the title as "The Hero Of Hyrule".But sometimes...he can't help but wonder...maybe if he had been a better hero, maybe things would've been better...
Series: Oneshots & Short Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2015575
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Behind These Walls I Call Home

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for being dead soo long with my other fics, I didn't have much motivation to do em right now or even to write in general lately...until I found this wonderful thing of an idea. So here have a one-shot!
> 
> Also, this fic was Beta read by the lovely Goose & Soaf on discord! :)

…Just as he expected, the sounds of battle and chaos could be heard becoming louder and louder as he neared the balcony.

As he placed a hand on the knob, he noticed he was shaking a bit. _Deep breaths, Link, deep breaths._

He opened the door.

Hyrule couldn’t remember the last time he looked outside, the only bits of memories he had of the outside world were from the first time he saw it.

His expression became filled with dread as he took it all in.

 _…screams, shouts, pain, fear, dying breaths-_ He heard it all.

… _fear-_ Fear unfamiliar to him formed inside his mind as his breath hitched in his throat.

“Th-this _feeling_ -“

_He hadn’t- hadn’t felt like this since- since the first time he saw the world beyond the walls._

All the stories he’d been told, all the things people have told him about the outside world- _it, was all…a lie…_

_A lie, for what?_

He didn’t know how long he stood there frozen, but it was long enough that the sun had clearly set a bit.

…

_But no matter how much he saw it, how much he heard it, or how much he stood there. It would never change a thing about it- the fact that everything he saw, right in front of him was…because of him._

People- real live people were there out on the field, fighting for _him…_ for a useless, good for nothing hero…he was supposed to be the one who protects them from the evil of this world, but instead thousands of lives- innocent lives are lost because he can’t do anything useful.

 _Click clack, click clack._ The sounds of shoes could be heard from inside the castle.

“Link!” Someone called out for him.

Hyrule snapped out of his stupor and turned to face him on shaky legs. “Dawn-“

“Link, what are you doing here?! You know it’s not safe to be here!” she scolded him.

“I- I just thought maybe I could-“

“That you could what?!”

She sighed. “Sorry I shouted, Link. It’s just you know that it’s too much of a risk to go outside. You especially know what they want and what they’d be willing to do just to get it, to get to _you.”_

Hyrule looked down in embarrassment, not daring to look the princess in the eye.

“Come on, walk with me.” 

Hyrule walked a few steps behind the princess, back within the castle walls.

They walked in silence, watching 

as soldiers passed by them.

Dawn stopped in front of the room, gesturing for him to go in first.

She closed the door behind her.

“Link. Do you know why I brought you here?”

“…No.”

“Link, tell me the real reason why you went outside.”

“I- I just wanted to help, to fight alongside them, rather than stay here doing nothing.”

She sighed. “Oh, Link-“

“I know what you’re going to say, so just tell me. No need to hide it, I know you’re mad,” he said. The princess needed to blow off steam from leading a kingdom, so why not just let it out on him? He could take it.

“Link, I know it’s hard, but you have to stop fighting it. There are people willing to risk their lives by fighting to protect you. Everyone in Hyrule knows who and what you are. They know exactly what power you were given and because of that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for it. Even you know that myself and Aurora are willing too, as well if it means you’re safe and the future of Hyrule is.” She raised her voice but not to the amount he thought she would.

Dawn took a deep breath to compose herself from the sudden outburst.

“I’m afraid that is the only way we can ensure it. So I suggest you _learn to deal with it, Link_.” Her words pierced through him like daggers. The thought of letting others fight in his place, plaguing him.

“Do you understand?” She maintained the straight face a royal should have.

He knew she meant no harm, but her expression made it sound much colder than it was.

“…I understand, _princess_.”

Her expression softened. “Good-“

“Your Highness!” A guard barged into the room frantically.

“Wh- What is the meaning of this?!”

“My apologies, princess! But the queen requests Your Highness’s and Sir Link’s presence in the throne room, she said it was urgent.” The guard explained.

Dawn nodded. “I understand. Thank you, you are dismissed.” 

The guard bowed and left the room.

She turned to face him. “Come on Link, it must be important.”

He nodded and followed behind her.

When they entered the throne room, their first sight was the rows of generals and lieutenants kneeling before the queen.

When Queen Aurora spotted them at the back of the room, she signaled for them to come join her on the thrones.

Dawn sat on her throne to the left of Aurora and Hyrule sat on his own to the right of her.

“Glad you could finally join us Princess, Sir Link.” She gave them a quick smile, before her expression grew urgent. “Now, General Martel, please fill us in on the situation at hand.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. The monsters have breached the castle perimeter up until our first gatehouse and tower at the west side of the castle,” he explained. “I have already called my men to fall back and regroup back at tower two, but I don’t know how long it will hold.”

“That is indeed awful news, but General, how do you plan on building up our defenses before the enemy can advance further? From my knowledge, we are running out of troops to deploy.”

“Your Majesty, I might have a solution, if I may?” spoke Lieutenant Varus.

“Go on, Lieutenant.”

“If General Martel was indeed correct about the pursuing monsters, then it would not take long for them to breach and take control of the other surrounding towers from the inside. What I propose is to call our troops and fall back to our second line of defense, it may bring them a bit closer to the castle but it can give us an advantage at how much more we are prepared to defend the castle without worrying about the inside of the castle-“

“But that’s preposterous! By leaving the entirety of the first line to the monsters without as much as a fight will only lead them closer to us, with no way of escaping if things do get worse. It’ll only leave us boxed in.” Lieutenant Nero cut in.

“But where would we go? Either way, if we stay and fight, there is no way there is enough time to evacuate everyone from Castletown.” Another general addressed.

The room quickly turned into a loud banter as the generals started to talk over each other regarding their plans and ideas to heighten their advantage.

Aurora leaned on to her right arm and listened in on the general’s conversation.

 _She looks really stressed; if only I could help ease the burden,_ Hyrule thought.

Dawn looked like she was ready to have an outburst and stop the men right in their tracks. He didn’t know whether or not it was a good idea to try and stop her.

Dawn stood up from her throne, the captains too busy in their discussion to notice.

“ _Ahem_. Sorry to interrupt your discussion, but we are running out of time! We need to think of a plan that will give us the best possible outcome. I understand that we do not have enough time nor resources to evacuate everyone, Lieutenant Nero, but we cannot simply just stay and watch as our numbers drop either. So instead of talking over each other, why don’t you mix your ideas hmm?” The instant she spoke, the room grew dead silent.

They were in the presence of three monarchs, and one of them was speaking, of course they would stop their conversation immediately.

“Hmph.” Dawn turned and sat back down on her throne seething.

“I agree with the princess, we have only a fraction of time to discuss this. I suggest we better get started on making more solutions than problems.” Aurora added in.

“U-understood. Our apologies, highnesses.” They said as they bowed to their superiors.

“Alright. We’ll start with retreating the first line of defense troops over to our second line, our defense, but we will stand firm on the northwest bridge.” General Martel started.

“While waiting for your troops to come by tower 3, 4, 5, and gatehouse two. I’ll order most of my troops to navigate over to the archers. The remaining half will either be on horseback to aid your troops as they fall back, or they will be manning the catapults.” Lieutenant Nero added in.

“If that’s the plan, then I’ll lead my troops to spread across the second line of defense, giving yours any resources and help they might need. The auxiliary team will go over and stand by the north-west bridge.” Another general added in.

“You along with me. I will be leading the auxiliary team and watching how the situation goes from there.” Another lieutenant added.

“What about you, General, Lucius?” Nero asked.

“My troops and I will be here, surrounding the castle from the inside and out making sure that the queen, princess, and hero are safe. If anything bad were to happen, I’d evacuate all of them and set their course over to the north-west bridge. When they arrive, my troops will take over your guard as you and your division take the royals to safety.” Lucius answered.

Aurora nodded to Lucius, giving an indication that she approved of the plan.

“However, if things really do take a turn for the worst, only two of us will be leaving that bridge safe.” Aurora had announced.

Dawn nodded. “If that’s the case, then only one of us will be on that ride to safety.”

Hyrule thought of the worst, he couldn’t possibly leave them. They’d die for sure without the proper amount of troops. There were simply not enough!

“B-but Your Highnesses you can’t simply think of-“ The lieutenant reasoned but was cut off as a knight ran into the room.

“Your Highnesses! The monsters they- they’ve made it past tower 2 and they are advancing further in quickly!”

“What of the tower 2 division?!” Aurora said with a shocked expression.

The soldier looked down with a somber expression. “They were wiped out almost immediately. Out of the entire division, only five of us escaped.”

In the background, catapults and cannons were being shot and loaded.

The Queen nodded. “We can mourn later. Generals, Lieutenants, we will stick with the plan! Find a way around it, but we will adhere to it!”

“Understood, your Majesty!” They said quickly, assuming a kneeling position.

“Remember why we are doing this! Who we are doing this for! We are doing this for the future of Hyrule and the life of it’s hero! The monsters are only a stepping stone of what we have to endure for the future! Understand?!” She proclaimed.

“Understood!” General Lucius nodded.

He took out his spear and slammed it down to the ground twice, creating a loud _clang_. “All hail the Hero of Hyrule!”

The other lieutenants and generals did the same as they took out their spears, creating another loud _clang_ before reciting the same. “ALL HAIL THE HERO OF HYRULE!”

Hyrule shook his head in embarrassment, refusing to accept the need to praise him so.

Dawn and Aurora looked at each other as if they read each other’s minds before nodding and standing up.

“All hail the Hero of Hyrule,” they said with a smile, as they directed a quick curtsy to Hyrule, the Hero of Hyrule.

Aurora looked back over to the soldiers. “Now go!” she commanded, pointing two fingers over to the room’s exit.

They immediately nodded and paced out of the throne room; the sounds of moving armor and weapons slowly growing quieter and quieter. It ringed in Hyrule’s ears. The only ones left in the room were the three of them. The nearest guard was at the entrance.

Aurora sighed. “Come on, we’re going-“

“W-why?”

“Hmm?” Aurora stopped and looked at Hyrule.

“Why did you tell those soldiers to leave you both? Why did you tell them to kneel to me?” Hyrule reasoned. His expressionless mask was slowly breaking, but it had always been like that. It always seemed like a crack away from shattering into a million pieces. Like a ticking time-bomb, waiting to erupt and lash out.

“I will not explain because there is no need. _You_ should know _exactly_ why we choose to do what we did, and our decisions are none of your business. We _will_ stick to the plan as I ordered, and you should also know better than to disobey…or was I wrong with? how I viewed you… _hero?”_ Aurora said, her tone cold as ice. 

Who knew royalties’ words could pierce someone so thoroughly?

Hyrule stood there, shocked. He had never been on the receiving end of Aurora’s cold expression.

He deflated. He shouldn’t have said anything in the first place- _but then again, would he ever get the chance to know?_ he thought to himself.

She turned around and proceeded to depart from the room, not even sparing a glance at the frozen hero. “Come on, we have other things to worry about right now.” 

Dawn looked over to Aurora, then to Hyrule, with a worrisome look on her face. She gracefully walked over to Hyrule.

“Link, you okay?”

“Y-yeah I’m fine...” He brushed her and the shame in his mind off, heading over to the door.

The both of them walked behind Aurora, though they were quite a distance apart.

“You know she didn’t mean it how she said it, right Link? She’s just handling a lot right now and she’s under a lot of pressure. Leading an entire kingdom isn’t an easy task.”

Hyrule listened to her but made no effort to talk.

“Just try to find it in you to forgive her. I know Aurora, she thinks of you like a little brother to her. It’s just that she has a lot more pressure to bear than you would think, even as a queen.”

Hyrule placed a hand on Dawn’s shoulder and gave her a small and reassuring smile.

Silence ensued as they continued to follow the Queen to wherever she intended to go. Though it was never quiet around the castle, due to the everlasting battles surrounding it, it definitely felt like the world has grown silent. The sounds of war became murmurs to their ears.

Aurora stopped in front of a great painting. “Here.”

Hyrule’s jaw dropped as he observed the piece of art. It was truly a magnificent painting.

It was a giant portrait of the prior royal family. The King, Queen, the past princess Zelda, and the past hero, all framed within fine wood and lined with glistening gold. Age showed in how some of the paint had smudged, how dust covered it, and how coincidentally, the faces of the past Zelda and Hero were smudged to the point of being unidentifiable.

Aurora bowed her head and placed a fist over her heart, paying her respects to the past generation.

Dawn followed suit not long after, and so did he.

“This painting is all that we have left from the past royals and hero. This painting is how we can communicate with them. To pay our respects, and to uphold our destiny…just like how the past chosen ones did during their time.” Aurora explained with a look of awe.

“We can’t let their efforts to restore Hyrule back to its former glory go to waste, as well as ours.” Aurora continued. “And I’m sorry for what happened before Link, I did not mean to lash out my emotions on you. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course, Your Highness-”

_Boom!_

The floor shook, people shouting commands here and there, shouts of distress, footsteps coming from everywhere. Debris and smoke engulfed the hallway they were in, blinding them all.

Rays of sunlight entered the hallway as a giant hole has been formed in the wall.

Hyrule coughed as he took in debris. “Dawn- _cough_ Aurora- _cough cough._ Where- are you guys okay?”

“Princess! Your Majesty! Hero!” Soldiers shouted from beyond the rubble

A soldier picked up Hyrule and carried him away from the debris, where a few other soldiers and a general.

Dawn was a few feet away from him. She didn’t look seriously hurt, but she was sporting a few cuts and scrapes.

“Wh-where is Aurora?” Hyrule asked.

“We, um, don’t know yet, but we're looking for her Majesty right as we speak.”

Hyrule walked over to Dawn.

“You alright there, princess?” He asked urgently.

“Yeah, just a few minor wounds, nothing I can’t handle. You, on the other hand, look much worse than I do.” Her giggle masked the worry she had in her voice.

“I hope Aurora’s okay-“ Dawn said before she was cut off.

“Help! I found her! I found Her Majesty!” a soldier called out.

Two soldiers emerged from the cloud of dust, carrying Aurora between them.

Bandages were all they had with them right now.

As they patched her up, she limped over to the both of them. “Yes, thank you.”

“Hey, you two, are you doing alright?”

“Oh, we're just fine. You seem worse off. You okay?” Dawn said.

“I’m just sporting a little twisted ankle. Don’t worry, I’ll be just fine, Dawn.” She replied with a clearly fabricated smile. “We do have to go somewhere safer, we’re exposed and vulnerable if we stay-“

 _Boom!_ Another bomb arrow was shot at the castle, causing the castle to crumble more and more

 _Boom! BOOM!_ Another arrow was shot and exploded. The arrows shot and exploded the castle walls, consequently allowing monsters to pour inside the castle through the rifts.

Orders were being shouted amongst the soldiers.

General Lucius ran to them over the fray. “My apologies, Your Highnesses, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to flee the castle. It isn’t safe anymore. I’ll escort you to the bridge, and from there, I can only pray that we can stop the monsters.”

“Understood, general. Do as you must.” Aurora sighed, dreading the thought of leaving the castle.

General Lucius nodded and grabbed Aurora’s arm. “My apologies.” And with that, he began dragging them all to safety.

_Things were just a blur from then on. Fighting, shouts, yells, roars, explosions. They all could be heard._

_Sure, their Hyrule was never in the best condition and was technically a battlefield but now…their home has quite literally a warzone._

_…_

_Was this all his fault? Was this because of the cursed power he’d been born with?_

_He shouldn’t have stayed! If he’d left the moment he had the chance and fought his way through the battlefield, maybe the monsters would have followed him, and Dawn and Aurora would be okay. But here they were, fleeing their home._

Hyrule scolded himself for every single thing that happened. This was all because he wasn’t a good enough hero.

The sounds of war followed them everywhere they went, even now on horseback, running away from the only home they knew.

_…_

_Was this really how things had gone? That it had all gone so horribly wrong, that they had to leave?_


End file.
